Top of the Tower
by junienmomo
Summary: Complete. Set in Season 4ish, during construction of the Dragonfly. No Jason, no Nicole. Just a handsome stranger. Javajunkie all the way. Fluff, truth-telling and more fluff.
1. Top of the Tower

Chapter 1 Top of the Tower

 **A/N:** Somewhere in the neighborhood of Season 4, no Jason, no Nicole, just a mysterious handsome stranger.

* * *

He shifted nonchalantly from his right to his left foot as he stood near the window, glancing down at his paper occasionally, skimming the headlines. His lithe muscular body was enhanced by the expensive suit he wore, the fine, soft wool outlining his long legs when he leaned back against the door frame. Scanning the room one more time looking for an empty seat, he dropped his eyes to his paper again as the lascivious stare of the woman made him uncomfortable. _How could she be so patently obvious when she's sitting at the same table as a rabbi and a preacher?_

The diner was slammed as usual during the lunch hour. In addition to the man waiting for a spot at one of the tables, there were several groups of four and five waiting, blocking the view of Stars Hollow out the large store windows. It being November, blustery and cold, there wasn't much of a view anyway. Thanksgiving was already a memory.

Miss Patty had stretched her salad, oil and vinegar on the side, as long as possible, first exchanging chitchat with the town's religious leaders, then catching up with Lorelai when she joined them at the table. Now she was literally clutching at the straw of her iced tea so she could keep enjoying the eye candy standing less than six feet away from their table.

"Lorelai, honey," she whispered, "I'm going to send a little hot stuff your way. You can thank me later."

Miss Patty stood up just as Luke brought Lorelai's lunch to the table. Patty handed him her check and the money, saying, "Here you go, honey," and walked past him without trying to pinch his butt.

Luke, always prepared to be fast on his feet when it came to Patty, furrowed his eyebrows briefly at her unusual behavior.

"Bye, Patty," he said with a touch of confusion in his voice as he picked up her dishes and cleaned her space at the table quickly but thoroughly.

Turning back to Lorelai, he gave her his usual half-smile, said, "Enjoy your lunch," rapped his knuckles on the table near her and went back to work.

The tall man at the door took Patty's advice when she pointed out the empty chair next to Lorelai.

"Do you mind?" he asked the three sitting at the table.

"No, not at all, please join us. We love to meet new people," said Rabbi David Barans.

"We met already," said Reverend Archie Skinner, shaking the man's hand. "Mr. Gibson, isn't it?"

"Daniel Gibson," he replied, looking at all three.

Lorelai smiled at him, saying simply, "Hello." Instantly attracted to him, his whole GQ-ed body exuded something. Not just a scent, but also a vibe, of masculinity and strength. _A 'scibe,' that's what he's got. Daniel Gibson, the man with a scibe._

"How is that house working out for you?" asked Archie.

Daniel looked at David and Lorelai, then said, "I've rented a house over on Mountainview Road," he said. "I'm thinking about moving here permanently."

Luke appeared at that moment. "Do you know what you want?" he asked curtly, with a glance at the other three. He didn't miss Lorelai's eyes on the newcomer. To him at least, it was obvious that she was attracted to the guy. He closed his eyes momentarily, steeling himself for another round of Lorelai's boyfriend hamster wheel. The rounds he hated the most were the ones that he had to watch here in the diner. He knew he was going to hate this one before it even started.

"Oh, sorry," Luke said, having missed both the guy's and Lorelai's comments. Daniel placed his order; Luke ignored further comments from Lorelai and disappeared as quickly as possible into the kitchen.

"Huh," said Lorelai, wondering briefly why Luke was so surly, then forgot him instantly as she turned back to Daniel.

"So you're the latest inmate in Stars Hollow," she confirmed. "Welcome to the sanitarium."

"Welcome to where time stands still?" he responded.

"A Metallica fan!" She grinned at him and he flashed his pearly whites right back at her. "No one leaves and no one will. The perfect description of Stars Hollow."

David and Archie rolled their eyes at each other, choosing to not enter into a debate about Metallica and metal music in general. They left Daniel and Lorelai alone at the table, as Lane brought Daniel's food to him.

Lorelai turned the best of her flirts and smiles on Daniel, getting intelligent and witty responses. She was an extraordinarily attractive woman, he thought, it was beginning to look like Stars Hollow was going to be very good for him.

"You're seriously going to commute to Hartford from here?" she asked. "What's the draw, beyond the craziness? Crazy is something we excel at here."

"I've never been a city guy," said Daniel, "and I'm thinking it's time I settled down and built as happy a private life as I've created a good business."

"You built your own business? Doing what?" She was fascinated by his brown eyes and he liked her baby blues. She leaned forward, almost but deliberately not quite touching his designer wool suit.

"I'm an architectural consultant," he said. "I make reviews of designs, and help the architects improve the buildings. It's a lot more fun than working on just one project. I love seeing many projects built around the world and knowing that I was able to help make them better."

"Not too many of those projects around here," she smirked, "although I've got a house that could use some help." She closed the small distance, laying her fingers on his arm.

Lane's ears pricked at Lorelai's words. She scoffed inwardly. Lorelai had no clue how cruel this would be if Luke stepped back into the room. This guy, this 'suit,' looked remarkably like Luke Danes. Similar height, similar build, although Daniel had narrower shoulders, but they had the same dark coloring. The brown eyes were the only difference at first glance. No wonder Luke had disappeared first into the kitchen, then upstairs after the lunch rush had settled down. Lorelai, who never missed a chance to throw a quip or tease Luke, had missed the whole event.

Lorelai continued, "So you still haven't confessed what made you choose Stars Hollow," she flirted. "Our festivals. It must be our festivals. Our party punch really packs a punch."

"You know, Lorelai, the city isn't a place to raise a family. Stars Hollow is. Since I'm not getting any younger, I figured I'd better find a place to settle down while I look for the right partner."

"So you're not attached? No girlfriend?" _This is looking more promising all the time._

"Nope. Broke up from a pretty serious relationship a couple of years ago, and I've been dating since then, but there's too much society bull going on in Hartford. I hate that stuff."

"God, yes. I left Hartford years ago and settled here. I love it; this will always be my true home. The people here may be quirky, but they're real. Always willing to help out a neighbor."

He sighed. "You're going to think this is goofy coming from a grown man, but I want the whole package: home, wife, kids, something to really build a future on."

"No, not at all. It's hard for anyone to find that," she commiserated. "I know from experience. That's why I ended up raising my daughter all by myself. I couldn't risk bringing the wrong guy into that relationship."

"You have a daughter? Is she at school?" Daniel asked.

"She's at Yale," said Lorelai proudly.

"Wow. That's impressive. Looks like it worked out for you."

"It did, especially with the help of the people here. Miss Patty, the teachers, my neighbor Babette, my best friend Sookie. If you're a single parent, having a village to help raise your child is a godsend."

Lane had to resist both face palming and the urge to rush over to their table to remind Lorelai about all that Luke had done for her. This moment, this one conversation in which she completely ignored the countless things Luke had done for her, was the worst that Lane had ever seen her treat Luke. A quick scan of the room showed that a couple of other townies had heard the same things. At least Luke was still upstairs and would be spared the worst of her behavior.

Daniel looked at his watch. "Lorelai, I'm really enjoying this conversation, but I have an appointment before I leave for Hartford. Would you be interested in dinner tonight?"

"Sounds great!"

"OK, I keep a table reserved at the Top of the Tower in Hartford for business, but we could eat there if you like," he said, as he paid Lane for his lunch.

"I'd love it. It's supposed to be a great restaurant. It will give me a chance to compare it to the restaurant I'm going to open in the inn I'm building."

"Seriously? You're building your own inn? That's ambitious," he commented. He handed her his business card after adding his cell phone to the back. "If 9.30's OK with you, I need to get some work done at the office because of the paperwork I'm doing for my rental."

"Sure," she grinned. "I'm a night owl."

"Good," said Daniel. "See you then. The reservation is in my name, so they'll seat you as soon as you arrive. Feel free to order a drink if I'm not there before you."

"Great, Daniel, I'll see you then." She walked him to the door as if she owned the place, then waved goodbye as he headed to Taylor's to sign the lease for his house.

"Lorelai, that was really bad," blurted Lane. "How could you do that?"

"Do what? Get a date with a great guy? Apparently pretty easy," she preened.

"No, I mean treat Luke like that. That was just mean."

"I didn't do anything to Luke!" Lorelai protested. "He wasn't even here."

Lane gave into the face palm at that comment.

"He was here, Lorelai. He served you, watched you come on hard to that guy while you completely ignored him. Then you dissed him behind his back when you talked about all the people who helped you raise Rory, but didn't even mention him. Remember, I was there by Rory's side! I know how much he did for you."

"Oh, Luke never notices those things. Anyway, he knows we're best friends. He knows how much I appreciate what he does for me," she said dismissively.

"That guy was Luke in a suit, Lorelai. He looked like him, he built his own business, he's doing what he loves, the only difference is Luke loves you!" Lane hissed the last part, hoping no one else was listening, even though Luke's feelings were an open town secret.

Lane began wiping the countertop, with the dawning realization why Luke wiped it so much. Better a clean counter than exploding in frustration.

But Lane didn't have Luke's discipline, so she began again, this time more calm and deliberate. "Lorelai, I know that Luke is your best friend. But are you his? Have you ever even thought about that?"

"That's not …" began Lorelai before Lane practically face palmed her to stop her talking.

"I don't want to hear it. We've heard it all before, you've denied it all before. I'm done." Lane turned away.

"Well, at least say goodbye to Luke for me!" cried Lorelai, rapidly building her wall of denial inside her head.

"Why? You can't say goodbye yourself?" asked Luke as he came through the curtain.

Lorelai flushed red, then stammered, "I, uh, um, …" Catching herself, she quipped, "No, I'm a helpless kitten with no voice. I need someone to say goodbye for me!" She batted her eyes at him. "Could you say goodbye to Luke for me?"

Lane's jaw dropped in astonishment. Lorelai's tactless and inconsiderate behavior knew no bounds. She stalked off to the kitchen.

Luke smirked mirthlessly. "I'll do that the next time I see him," he said dryly, as Lorelai gratefully escaped the truth once more.

* * *

For once, Lorelai was early for her date. It wasn't that she was all excitedly in love and couldn't wait to see him, although he was hands down the most handsome guy she'd ever dated. Rather, it was the fact that she couldn't stay at home a moment longer.

Lane's words haunted her.

She toyed with her martini glass as she stared out the window, watching the view change as the restaurant rotated slowly. She could see the various roads leading out of Hartford, and once every few minutes, the road to Stars Hollow appeared, resetting her thoughts again.

Of course she was Luke's best friend. Wasn't she there for his uncle's funeral? Didn't she offer advice on raising Jess until she told Luke to go to Hell? Didn't she … Suddenly her list ran out. No, wait! She shopped for him. That counts, doesn't it? No, probably not, since he didn't want the things she bought for him, and it was all on his own credit card anyway.

A list was needed, a two-column list. On the left, the things I've done for my best friend Luke, and on the right the things Luke has done for her. The list on the right was getting long as she sat there thinking of all the things Luke had done for her, while the other side stayed pitifully short.

The denial machine was just starting up inside Lorelai's brain when Daniel arrived, five minutes before the appointed time. He smiled broadly, taking her hand and holding more than shaking it, while he looked in to her eyes.

"It's nice to see you again, Lorelai. I'm glad you could come," he said warmly.

He picked up seamlessly from their lunch conversation as he drew Lorelai out to talk about her inn, her plans for the future, and her daughter.

When the conversation shifted from her life to his, she had a chance to really look at Daniel. He was very handsome, with his wide smile and perfect teeth. He had slightly more hair than Luke, but smaller shoulders and a lighter build. Where Luke's hands were large with amazingly beautiful slender fingers, Daniel's were smaller and his fingers were almost stubby.

There was really no comparison when it came to the eyes, though, Luke's had a light inside them that even an enthusiastically talking Daniel couldn't match. Daniel looked at her, but Luke SAW her. _Must be blue eyes, they're always prettier than brown eyes. That's all that it is._ Lorelai picked up that brick and mortared it into her denial wall.

Over coffee and cognac, they began testing the relationship waters. Daniel's previous relationship had come to the edge of getting engaged, but she backed out, deciding to move to Washington state and live in Seattle.

"What about you, Lorelai? Ever get close?" he asked as he placed his hand over hers.

The extra Martini and the cognac was working its magic on Lorelai as she stared at Daniel's fingers resting on her own, giving in to the memory of the last time Luke had her hand in his. Fighting over the coffee pot, as usual, she remembered the warmth as his admittedly beautiful fingers pried hers off the handle. She shook her head to bring herself back to the moment.

"I got within spitting distance," she said. "Three days before the wedding."

"What happened?"

Pulling her fingers out of Daniel's gentle grasp, Lorelai had the good grace to look a little ashamed. "I recognized very late that I was in love with the idea of getting married, but not in love with the guy." She took another swallow of cognac.

"God, that must have been hard for you," he said soothingly.

"He was pretty forgiving, too, and I'm grateful for that," she admitted. "Also that my friend Sookie was doing the catering. Instead of the wedding, we just had a big party in the town square."

Daniel's eyes widened and he took the opportunity to drain his cognac glass.

"You were going to marry the teacher?" he asked suddenly.

"Max? Yes, Max is a teacher, and we were going to get married." Lorelai looked at Daniel, a little perplexed. "What's the matter?"

"You're the man-eater," he mouthed the words slowly as if he needed to burn them into his brain.

Lorelai gasped. "M- m- man-eater? What do you mean?"

Daniel laughed nervously. As a chill came over the table, Lorelai shivered. "What's going on, Daniel?"

"They warned me about you," he said.

"Who?! Who warned you? What did they say?"

Daniel scratched his head, then decided that the cold hard truth would be his easiest way out.

"Several different people told stories about you. Apparently you have a nickname."

"Man-eater? My nickname is Man-eater? Oh my God, I thought people liked me!"

"They do, at least some of them do. Miss Patty, the bookstore guy, the guy who seems to work in every business, lots of people like you."

"Well then, who calls me a man-eater?" Her face grew angry, each moment increasing Daniel's belief that she could indeed be a man-eater.

"Other people, like the people I ran into in the stores and offices."

"Taylor?" growled Lorelai.

"Taylor knew about the nickname, but he was too polite to actually use it in reference to you."

"Why would anyone call me that?"

"Yeah, it was kind of odd. Lots of people seem to have heard about your, er, exploits."

"My EXPLOITS? Name one."

"Well, you're known as the girl who can shoot down a guy's come-on line in 30 seconds or less."

"That's not enough to earn me the title of man-eater."

"Well there's the manipulating you do to get special benefits, like at the pizza parlor, or the shoe repair. Then there's the dry cleaners and the garden shop, and something about a basket auction."

"Oh come on," she scoffed. "A little flirting helps grease the skids."

"Sure," agreed Daniel, "but not everyone all the time."

"I thought people realized I was just being cute," she said miserably.

"Cute's good once in a while, but all the time is manipulative." Daniel looked at her critically, then went for broke. "And then there's the guy."

Lorelai sighed. "OK, kill me now. Which guy? When? What did I do?"

"The most colorful phrase anyone used was 'she's devouring him, heart and soul, one bite at a time.'" He watched her color rise and hoped she would contain herself here. He'd hate to lose his standing reservation over a single date.

"Keep talking," she said cautiously, although she knew what was coming. Luke.

"I think I heard the most stories about him. Something about repairs, and that basket auction, and a fight about his nephew. Did you know he's in love with you?"

"That's what they tell me," she said, "but he's never said anything."

"Are you sure?" asked Daniel kindly. "There were several people claiming to be eyewitnesses to one thing or another."

"I don't know, Daniel, I just don't know. He never asked me out like you did this afternoon."

"Some guys show their love with actions instead of words. By the way, what's a chuppah?" Daniel asked.

"It's a thing he made for me, for my wedding. It's kind of an arch. He carved it by hand and decorated it with a goat," said Lorelai sadly.

"For your marriage to another man? Wow, he really is in love with you."

Lorelai stared at the dregs in her coffee cup before raising her eyes to look at Daniel. Tearfully, she said, "I think I'd better go now." She began gathering her things.

"Aw, Lorelai. You do know you can change your reputation, right? Make things right with this guy, that's all it will take. If he really loves you, it may even turn out for the best."

"I don't know if he'll be able to forgive me," she sniffed, angrily wiping away the only tear that escaped.

"At least you will have tried," consoled Daniel. "Make sure you look at his actions as well as listen to his words. I think you'll be surprised."

He stood up and hugged her before she left the restaurant. He returned to his seat and ordered another cognac, making a mental note to take advantage of the three-day waiting period written into his house rental contract. Maybe Litchfield would be a better place, he pondered.

* * *

The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman rolled on the screen inside Lorelai's head as she slept. The only changes were she was the fifty foot woman and instead of getting revenge on a cheating husband, she was plunging her hand into innocent men's hearts and feasting on them, laughing insanely the whole time.

++++ end chapter 1


	2. Truth-Telling

ToT 2 Truth-Telling

Lorelai looked like crap.

It wasn't a hangover.

It wasn't illness.

It wasn't aging.

Lorelai looked like crap because she felt like crap.

She made a face at her reflection, ironically noting that inner ugliness leads to outer ugliness. "Ugh," she said and went back to bed.

An hour later, she still felt like crap.

Making herself a pot of coffee, she gradually pulled herself together. She had work to do, and not just at the Dragonfly. She also had to find out for herself if the man-eater label fit, and if yes, what she could do about it.

Dreading another encounter with Lane, she gingerly opened the door to the diner. No Lane, just the regular customers. No Luke either. She dragged herself into the diner, waved weakly at Babette and Miss Patty, then took a seat at the counter.

"Wow. You look like crap." Luke stood across the counter from her, frowning slightly.

"Take me now, sailor. Flattery will get you everywhere."

"Here, have some coffee. You can't face the world looking like that."

She looked at Luke as he looked back at her. He didn't want to speak first in case she wanted to talk about the guy from yesterday, and he really wasn't in the mood. She didn't want to speak first in case she blurted out something stupid, like 'I'm sorry I'm a man-eater' so she didn't say anything either.

Luke abruptly turned and walked away, doing a round of refills while he tried to figure out what to do with a silent Lorelai. His fallback option was to say nothing until Lorelai opened some topic, so he used that.

Lorelai had two options: talk a little or talk a lot. Normally she'd use talk a lot in awkward situations, but she simply didn't have the energy today.

"How are you today, Luke?" she asked, then shut up again.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"What do you mean what's wrong? I asked you how you were doing, Luke. You're supposed to reply with an answer to the question."

"I did. My reply was to skip over the discussion about why you asked that question today when you never asked that question before in your life, and try to find out what's wrong. So, Lorelai, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is I don't know how you are doing and I want to know how Luke Danes, Proprietor of Luke's Diner, good friend and man behind the curtain, is."

"I'm not behind the curtain. I'm in front of the curtain. That's how I am." He crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter, wondering what the hell was going on.

"No, that's where you are, not how you are."

"Geez, Lorelai, I can't help you out of this funk. Do you want breakfast or not?" This must have something to do with the guy from yesterday. Lorelai always got weird when there was a new guy on her mind.

Lorelai sighed deeply and dramatically. "Luke, I want more coffee, pancakes and bacon, and to know how you're doing. Extra sugar on that last part, please."

Luke squinted at her. _'Extra sugar?' Didn't that mean a kiss? What the hell is with her today?_ This conversation was too complicated. He didn't have time to deal with this today.

"You're cracked," he finally replied. Giving in, he added with a soft, small smile, "I'm fine. Do you want my new hazelnut pumpkin spice syrup with the pancakes?"

His acquiescence was rewarded with a weak Lorelai smile. Not what he was used to, but she really was off-kilter today, so he took it as a positive sign.

Lorelai's pancakes came out at the same time Miss Patty was paying for her breakfast. As Luke rang her up, she leaned over to Lorelai and asked, "How was that handsome guy you had lunch with yesterday, sweetie? I heard that you were flirting up a storm."

Luke accidentally on purpose pushed a couple of papers off the cash register onto the floor, giving himself an excuse to squat down and keep his frustrated expression to himself. By the time he stood up again, he was the center of attention between the two women – Miss Patty to see if he was showing love angst, and Lorelai to see if he was mad at her. Luke, however had regained control of himself and since he had mastered the blank look, that was all he gave them.

Lorelai moaned in ecstasy over the syrup. "Luke, have you been hiding this from us? This syrup is fantastic!"

"New recipe," he said casually. "Glad you like it."

"Can I have some to take to work with me? It would taste great in coffee! And it's so good that Sookie will get jealous. She needs that every once in a while to get inspired."

"Sure, I'll put some in a cup to take with." He turned to the coffee station and poured the syrup carefully into a to-go cup.

Miss Patty didn't let up on the topic of Daniel. "I heard you were all over him, dear. Didn't he ask you out?"

Lorelai, who had been watching Luke pour the syrup and put a lid on the cup, noticed a flash of pain cross his face as Patty spoke.

She felt a crack open up in her wall of denial. _He does have feelings for me._

"I wouldn't want to go out with him, Patty, I like home-grown products better," she joked, using the joke at the same time to test Luke yet again.

Luke froze, his only reaction to her comment being a slight twitch in his jaw.

 _Actions speak louder than words, that's what Daniel said._ Lorelai could see that Luke Danes' actions really did say far more than his words expressed.

"Well honey, it's your loss," she said as she left, "He was a pretty one."

Luke took time cleaning an imaginary spot of syrup off the outside of the cup, giving himself time to breathe. _She turned him down in favor of home-grown. Maybe it's time for me to test the waters, see if I can get a nibble._ He then smiled, knowing the 'dirty' he'd get from Lorelai if she heard the 'nibble' comment.

"Here you go," he said, pushing the cup toward her, steadying it with his right hand. "There's enough for ten cups of coffee, OK? Don't go pouring it all into a single cup."

She looked at his slender fingers, then placed her own on top of his, removing them one by one. "Thanks, Luke. You have pretty fingers, did you know that?" She ran her thumb over his fingertips before letting them go.

Standing, she kept a pleasant but noncommittal expression on her face as she tilted her head sideways and looked at him. She could now see that he was slightly thrown by her fingers comment. She stepped backwards toward the door, still looking at him. He finally looked up, their eyes connected and he smiled that gentle smile again, rubbing his left hand over the fingers of his right hand.

Lorelai's noncommittal expression blossomed into a full-blown Lorelai smile as she silently waved goodbye.

* * *

"Sookie! You have got to taste this! Luke made the most fantastic syrup," crowed Lorelai as she entered Sookie's house through the front door. "We have to talk!"

"Lorelai!" hissed Sookie. I just got Davey down to sleep. We've been up all night."

"Oh! Sorry!" she whispered. "Look, we have to talk!"

"No, we don't. I need to sleep. I haven't slept in over 30 hours, Lorelai."

"Try this syrup. Luke made it for pancakes. It's orgasmic!"

"Look what orgasms lead to, honey. Babies. Babies who are like vampires, sucking at you every waking moment and staying up all night looking for more victims to possess."

"I know, honey, just relax and we'll talk about other things. Do you think Luke likes me?" asked Lorelai.

Sookie collapsed on the sofa and buried her head in the pillow. "No. Luke doesn't like anyone. He's a grumpy killjoy who will never have love in his life because he's too surly to recognize love when he sees it."

Lorelai's jaw dropped. "Harsh, Sookie, harsh."

"Lorelai, I don't have the energy to play your sixth grade 'does he like me' game anymore. You never listen to me and I am too busy looking for a kitchen manager to run around in circles to help you stay in denial." She pulled an afghan from the back of the sofa and covered her body, trying to go to sleep.

"No, seriously, we need to talk about this. Yesterday this guy came to the diner, and …"

Sookie interrupted her friend. "I heard about the guy, I heard about the date, I heard how you dissed Luke one more time. Seriously, Lorelai, Luke is more important to you than Christopher ever was to either you or Rory. How can you keep treating him this way?"

"What way? He's a good friend."

"No, he's your 'do me a favor' friend. You tease him cruelly in the diner, but expect him to show up at the spur of the moment when something goes wrong or something at your house needs to be fixed. Is it any wonder that his feelings get hurt when you hit on another guy right under his nose?"

"But he would have to be interested in me to get his feelings hurt."

"Enough, Lorelai, I can't deal with this anymore. If you're interested in Luke go tell him. He's a simple, loving man who is crazy about you. He doesn't need innuendoes, games or whatever. Knock on his door, tell him you love him, strip naked, and he's yours. It will take you two minutes, tops. You are so wasting your life chasing after other men. You always dump them anyway, because no one's as good as Luke. No one knows you as well as Luke does. No man can love you like Luke can. Now leave me alone. I have to write a job ad to replace Manny."

"Replace Manny? I thought he was your kitchen manager."

Sookie stood up, realizing that Lorelai was not going to go willingly. She took her by the elbow and walked her to the door. "Well, he quit today. He said he's had enough and is looking for another job."

"Sookie, we can't run the inn without Manny! He's the only one who can keep you out of the hospital, and he's a damn fine chef as well. We'll never find another Manny."

Sookie opened the door and none-too-gently shoved Lorelai out onto the porch.

"We're gonna have to, though, because he's done. And I'm done. I need to sleep until Davey wakes up again. Goodbye, Lorelai." Sookie shut the door in Lorelai's face.

* * *

Lorelai went immediately to Manny. When she found out that Sookie hadn't considered a number of things that were needed for the new kitchen, she asked him to take on the task until Sookie was back on her feet. She also promised him a hefty raise and a formal management position when the Dragonfly opened. That hole in the dike patched, she turned toward home. Rory would be finished with classes and she could at least talk to her about Luke.

"Mom, I'm so glad you called. I'm having the worst time finding a place to study. There's always someone in the dorm room making noise, and …"

"You know what, Rory? You're an adult. Solve that problem like an adult. Just figure it out."

"Geez, Mom. Way to comfort your favorite daugh- …"

"Luke likes me!"

"What?"

"Luke likes me! Or maybe he likes me, or maybe he doesn't. What should I do?"

"Mom, what is different from all the other times we've told you Luke likes you? Of course Luke likes you. He likes me too."

"But this is different. I went out yesterday with another guy, and boy did Lane get mad at me. I was just talking to him, but Lane said I hurt Luke's feelings, and …"

"Lane called me, and she's right, Mom. You did hurt Luke's feelings. He was grumpy for the rest of the day and the evening was the worst. He moped around the diner all evening, hoping you'd come in."

"He moped because of me?"

"Mom, it was really bad. You hit on a guy right in front of him, when you know he has feelings for you."

"He's just a friend."

"Mom, we've covered this ground a hundred times. You're determined to believe that Luke doesn't love-love you, because that would mean you'd have to admit your feelings for him."

"I just have friendship feelings for him."

"Please, Mom, that boat sailed long ago, the first time you got jealous because another girl looked at him. Seems to me that this is an adult problem that you should solve like an adult."

"Did you learn to talk to your mother like that at Yale? But …"

"Mom, tell me about your feelings for Luke. Include how you feel when you see him on a date and why you hide your boyfriends from him."

"Well, he ought to tell me about his girlfriends, because if someone's in his life, she's gonna be in my life too."

"OK, first question answered, you do have feelings for Luke. Why don't you tell him about your boyfriends?"

"Oh, Luke's not interested in hearing about that."

"What was Luke's reaction to hearing about you and that guy from yesterday?"

"Well, …"

"C'mon, Mom, use full sentences, subjects and verbs, say what needs to be said."

"He wasn't happy."

"And why wasn't Luke happy?"

"Because … God! This is hard for me." Speaking very fast, she blurted, "I think he has feelings for me, and it made me very happy to learn that."

"Good, that's something we all agree on."

"Who's we?"

"You, me and all of Stars Hollow."

"Did you know there's an underground group of people in Stars Hollow and that there are people who call me a man-eater?"

"Yeah, sure, Jess told me about that. There's kind of a big percentage of Stars Hollow that think it."

"And they think I'm eating Luke alive, body and soul, one bite at a time?"

"Not all of them. Some of them think you're just a vampire, sucking the blood out of him and maybe other useful members of society. That's just a small group, and they're mostly online, so we can't identify who they are."

"But isn't a man-eater the same thing as a zombie? I'm not a zombie."

"Whoa, they don't teach this stuff at Yale, Mom. Wouldn't it be easier to just stop doing it to Luke and start doing IT to Luke? Heehee. I made a dirty joke."

Lorelai's brain was elsewhere. "I suppose I could be a zombie when I don't have coffee. Maybe that's the connection – Luke's coffee makes me into a zombie who feasts on Luke's body and soul."

"Now who's making the dirty jokes, Mom?"

"Maybe he's doing it on purpose! Could this be Luke's demented way of committing suicide?"

"Mom! Mom!"

"What?"

"I need you to be a bit closer to reality, OK? Luke is in love with you and you have very strong positive feelings for Luke, right? You can work with that, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Now it's time for you to progress to the next logical step."

"Knock on his door, tell him I love him and get naked?"

"Ah, you know about the Knock-Love-Naked plan. I see you've been talking to Babette."

"Babette? I heard this for the first time from Sookie. How many people know about this Knock-Love-Naked plan?"

"Everyone who's in the pool."

"Please tell me you mean a swimming pool."

"Only if they're keeping the money in a swimming pool, Mom."

"Who's in this pool?"

"Everyone who doesn't think you're a zombie or a vampire."

"This conversation has gone to a very weird place."

"Maybe we should stop right now and never speak of it again."

"Done."

"I gotta go, Mom, remember: Knock-Love-Naked. Very easy."

* * *

The more she thought about it, the easier it was to appreciate Luke's feelings for her. The problem was, she still wanted to talk to someone about it before she was willing to risk their friendship. Sookie and Rory were no longer available, so she found herself ringing Patty's doorbell.

"Hi Lorelai," said Miss Patty.

"Hi Patty," she replied. "Have you got a minute?"

"Are you here for some tips on the Knock-Love-Naked plan?"

"No, I can handle that. I'm just feeling like I've misunderstood a lot about Luke. How much damage have I done?"

"Sure sweetie, come in. Let me get the tequila."

The first shots made her brain cloudy, but by the time Lorelai had her third shot of tequila, things were looking crystal clear.

Luke's parents were a sweet, loving couple who did their best to raise their kids well. Young Luke was a happy, if quiet boy, focused on baseball and other sports. The year after their mother died, both Luke and Liz tested their boundaries.

Luke was more conservative, giving up sports for a long time and spending hours in his room, except for his nerdy involvement in Star Trek and other science fiction. He eventually went back to sports as his outlet for his sadness, building a new, stronger relationship with his father.

Liz wasn't so lucky. She was on the cusp of puberty when their mother died and had no one to help her through the difficult times. A few bad choices in friends and suddenly she had flunked out of high school. Almost before William knew it, Liz was uncontrollable and within a few months had run away with friends, eventually turning up pregnant and with a criminal record.

Luke was lost again after Liz' departure and the death of his father. Only the plan and execution of the diner saved him. It gave him an adult identity that he adopted with pleasure.

With the exception of the occasional breakup with Rachel, Luke was happy. Knowing Rachel as well as he did, he'd come to understand their on-again, off-again relationship. He didn't expect more than she was willing to give, and they always knew that she would leave again. It wasn't an open relationship; they truly broke up every time she left, but Luke didn't need much in the way of relationships.

Before he knew it, years had gone by. Neither he nor Rachel felt the drive to have a family, although Luke would have enjoyed having one. He simply pushed the wish away year after year until too many years had passed and he knew Rachel would never settle down.

Luke's game changed when the Gilmores came to town. He fell hard for Lorelai, but she kept dancing just out of reach, mostly for very good reasons. At first she wasn't interested in a permanent relationship with anyone, because she was completely involved in raising Rory and building a career that could support them in the long run.

Luke's and Lorelai's friendship was kick started when Lorelai bought the Crap Shack. There was always something to talk about, for him to help with, for her to ask questions about. Naturally, their bond grew into other areas as well, and he bonded with Rory too.

By the time Lorelai began thinking of dating again, Luke was established in her psyche as a friend. She couldn't go a day without talking to him (it really wasn't just about the coffee), and he felt the same, but he wished for more.

The more his attempts to form a closer relationship with her failed, the more frustrated he became. At first he took out his frustration on Taylor, who richly deserved it. Eventually it wasn't just Taylor who was the recipient of his grumpiness, but almost anyone who crossed him at the wrong moment. Normal diner owner Luke had become grumpy, borderline-loner Luke.

He seemed to be eternally surly, except, of course, when he was around Rory and Lorelai. They made him happy to a point. Even though he couldn't manage the 'whole package', his friendship with the Gilmore Girls filled some of the gaps, similar to the way Rachel's occasional appearances substituted for a full-time relationship. He'd learned to live with this.

Lorelai knitted her eyebrows together as she pondered the effect she'd had on Luke. "Oh, Patty, I never knew. I mean, I knew he tried to ask me out sometimes, but I thought he changed his mind. I'm so sorry."

"Luke is important to us all, Lorelai. He's one of us. When he's not happy, we try to help him, but we know we also have you and Rory to care for. That doesn't make it easy for us. It's not that we hate him taking out his frustrations on us, it's that we want the best for both of you. That's why we kept encouraging you all these years. We hoped against hope that you two would find each other. We hoped that if you two found each other, Stars Hollow would get its old Luke back."

* * *

Tipsy enough to feel the effects of the alcohol, but not so much that she felt drunk, Lorelai made her way to the diner. She walked in on a teenage soccer team celebrating their win.

Darkness had fallen and the team were the only customers left in the diner. Luke had sent Lane home already, but fortunately had Caesar in the back, still cooking. Cheeks pink from the tequila, Lorelai smiled at Luke as he juggled several plates at once. Arms finally empty, he stepped over to her before going to the kitchen for the next load.

"Hey," he said, a little uncertainly, but with a ghost of a smile.

"Hey," she returned, "How are you tonight?"

He rolled his eyes before looking at her with a sheepish grin. "Fine, thanks," he answered. "I'm just gonna get the next batch, then I can get you some coffee, OK?"

"Sure, sure," she said with a giggle. "Want some help?"

He sniffed the air near her. "Not with breath that I could light on fire, thanks for the offer. How about if you sit over here, and wait for me?"

Another half-dozen orders were delivered and Cokes were refilled for pretty much everyone before Luke slumped down onto the stool next to Lorelai at the counter.

"Oh, your coffee! I forgot!" He stood up halfway before Lorelai pushed him pack onto the stool.

"I'm good," she said. "Just relax. Take a load off."

They sat there in companionable silence for a while, just watching the kids. Some of them were children of Luke's former schoolmates, but all of them were Stars Hollow residents. They were the future of Stars Hollow, even the guys sprinkling massive amounts of pepper onto their cokes and challenging other kids to drink them.

"They're having a good time, aren't they?" she asked.

"Well, they won, didn't they? They should be happy."

She bumped her shoulder against his. He pretended to almost fall off the stool. "We live in a great town, don't we, Luke?"

"Town full of crazies." He arched an eyebrow at the goalie, who had begun to balance a fork on his nose. That one look from Luke brought him under control.

"But they're our crazies, aren't they?"

Luke looked at her, pondered for a moment, then nodded.

She sat there a moment longer, then rubbed his arm, saying, "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night."

As she walked out the door, the only thing Luke knew for sure was that something had changed.

++++ end chapter 2


	3. Deeply Passionately Tenderly

ToT3 Deeply Passionately Tenderly

 **A/N:** Long chapter, but it's filled with fluff. You may need to stock up on toothpaste.

* * *

Lorelai didn't make it to the diner until lunchtime the next day. Fully rested, she came in on a mission. Led by what she'd learned from Miss Patty the night before, she wanted to bring Stars Hollow back into balance. She had knocked Luke off his center, which knocked half of Stars Hollow out of whack. _I'm going to put it back into whack._ She giggled at her own dirty thought.

Shy smiles and quiet hellos were exchanged again between Luke and Lorelai. She sat patiently over her lunch, watching him interact with the townspeople.

She could already sense a change in him since she declared her 'home-grown' preference. He was quieter, more peaceful. One could almost use the word 'friendly,' except that no one ever used that word to describe Luke Danes. He handled the busy lunch crowd with aplomb; not even Kirk threw him off with his odd request for scrambled eggs with raisins.

Then all hell broke loose. Taylor came into the diner, brandishing the traditional red flag for Luke, a handful of flyers.

Luke, back in the kitchen at this point, knew nothing of the impending storm. Taylor was on a mission.

"Where's Luke?" he asked.

Lorelai jumped up and waved him over. "I can help, Taylor. Let me see what you've got," she said. In earlier days, Lorelai would have sat and watched Luke and Taylor rip into each other, today she wanted to smooth the waves.

"We have a huge holiday calendar this year, Lorelai. It's so big that I had to print a flyer just to tell everyone when and where the various events are happening. We need to post flyers in every window and leave a stack here next to the cash register."

"Taylor, you don't honestly expect to do that here, do you?" asked Lorelai with her best innkeeper voice. "Let's see what we can do with these. I think we can find a suitable place, OK? Good."

Slightly taken aback, Taylor quickly recovered. "Let's see what you've got."

"Options, Taylor, we've got lots of options. If we can find a way to get a flyer into the hands of everyone who comes into the diner, will that be OK?"

"Why, yes, I suppose it would." He became more interested in what Lorelai was saying.

Luke entered the dining area, his arms filled with plates. As he dropped the orders off at the correct tables, he looked suspiciously at Lorelai and Taylor standing in the middle of the room. The moment he saw the flyers he stormed over to them.

"No, Taylor, absolutely not!"

"Luke, wait, …" began Lorelai.

"Lorelai, stay out of this. Taylor, out! Out with those things. No flyers, no posters, nothing in the windows!" He tried to grab them, but Taylor held on tight and they began a comical tug of war.

"Luke, let me handle it," pleaded Lorelai. This wasn't going well for her, she'd figured she would just deal with this and everyone would be happy. It would make Luke happy.

Luke turned and looked at her. Confusion flashed across his face as he wanted to be nice to her, but he also wanted Taylor out of the diner. "No! There's nothing to handle here. Taylor just needs to get those damn things out of here." He turned first to Taylor with an angry look, then back to Lorelai as he struggled to calm himself for her.

The diner phone rang. Luke glared at Taylor, said "Out!" one more time, then went to answer the phone. "Luke's!" he barked into the phone.

Taylor looked at Lorelai superciliously. "See! He's just a hothead. He needs to act in the best interests of the town."

"I think you need to leave, now," she warned him. "I'll come by and talk about getting the message out tomorrow, OK?"

Taylor harrumphed just long enough for Luke to finish the phone conversation and charge back into the argument.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?" he growled.

"Now, Lucas, you should listen to Lorelai. She's actually making sense here," sneered Taylor, clutching the flyers to his chest.

Luke turned to Lorelai. "What exactly are you trying to do here?" he challenged, his adrenaline pumping from the argument with Taylor.

She pouted, saying, "I was just hoping we could all get along."

Luke's expression softened a little, but when Taylor opened his mouth, Luke lost it again. "Get along? Sure. Taylor, get along out of my diner! And take those flyers with you!"

Taylor raised his nose to a snootier position than normal, turned toward the door, adding, "Lorelai, we'll talk sometime when it can be done without the intervention of Neanderthals." He then closed the door with one last haughty look at Luke.

Lorelai walked to a nearby chair and flopped onto it, putting her head in her hands. Luke stood ramrod stiff, still tense from the argument.

Lorelai closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and decided to leave. She shrugged her shoulders at Luke, repeating, "I was just trying to help," and left as well.

Luke started to say something, reached his arm out as if to stop her, but couldn't find the words. From the outside, she smiled weakly and waved.

* * *

Lorelai sat in a sheltered corner of the Dragonfly Inn, where the contractors were reconstructing the building that would change her life forever. She would go from trusted employee to owner and manager. In the meantime she would reconstruct herself, throwing out the parts that were rotten or no longer of use.

Was she a man-eater? Her own daughter didn't deny it, instead reminding her how badly she'd treated Luke. Her best girlfriend had given up trying to convince her to treat Luke differently. Her friends in Stars Hollow had tried quietly for years to get her to change.

There was no room left for denial – she had treated people inconsiderately, not on purpose, but it had happened anyway. And she'd treated her best friend Luke the worst of all, because she'd been told he had strong feelings for her, but she continually denied them.

Fine, he wasn't a great communicator; he should have been clearer, more persistent. No, that was wrong – Luke spoke clearly by his actions; a chuppah screams "I love you" louder than a used car lot television ad. She simply had never understood what he was saying. It was as if they spoke two different languages.

Now she knew there was no room left for denial. She knew that she wanted more than what they had right now. She knew how her denial had hurt Luke. She knew he still cared for her. The only thing she didn't know yet was if he still cared enough to try.

Tonight, after the diner had closed, she'd try to find out.

* * *

Lorelai was following Tom around as he explained the current state of the building. He showed her beam after beam that needed to be replaced, and began giving her ballpark estimates of how much the construction was going to increase.

Her mood sank lower and lower with each added cost. The only positive thing she had to look forward today was an evening with Luke, and the hope of a good discussion, maybe even more.

When her cell phone rang, she answered immediately, "Hi kid, what's up?"

A deeper voice than Rory's replied, "Do I sound like Rory?" and followed that with a chuckle.

"Luke?" Lorelai was surprised; Luke almost never called her cell. She giggled at the thought of calling him 'kid.' "What's up, old guy?"

He snorted his disdain at her joke. "Look, Lorelai, I wanted to let you know that I'm going to be closing early, so if you want dinner, you'll need to be here by 6, OK?"

"OK, I guess. I think I've about all the bad news I can stand here at the Dragonfly for a day, so I'll head over there in a little while. See you later." She flipped her phone closed, grunting "Huh," to herself as she turned back to Tom. _Why would he close early?_

* * *

The November sun was setting and the cold was palpable as Lorelai rushed to the diner at ten past six. The closed sign was up, the dining room lights were dimmed, but she could see that the kitchen was fully lit. She rapped sharply on the glass, hoping Luke would hear. "Luke!" she called through the closed door.

He came to the kitchen doorway, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. A fleeting smile graced his face, quickly replaced by the safety of his straight-set mouth as he went to open the door.

"Lorelai," he began before he was interrupted by her pleading voice.

"Sorry sorry sorry, Tom kept me too long. Any chance of food?"

He dropped his head and sighed. "The grill is already shut down and cleaned."

"I'm flexible, hungry and thankful for anything you can offer." She smiled impishly. "You'd be saving me from Al's takeout."

"I'm making myself dinner. Anything that I can cook in a pan is OK," he offered reluctantly as he locked the door again, this time taking the opportunity to put up his "Gone Fishing" sign.

"What are you having?"

"Ham, eggs over easy, and fried potatoes." He turned away from her, knowing the mocking that would begin shortly.

She snorted. "Luke Danes eating fried food? What's up with that?"

"It was my dad's favorite meal. Every once in a while I allow myself a guilty pleasure."

She clapped her hands at that. "Luke's guilty pleasure! I love it. Got enough for two?"

"Yeah, I'll just add some potatoes. Come into the back. I don't like to eat out here when the diner is closed."

He snagged the half-full coffee pot that he'd left warming, expecting her to come, even if it were late. Lorelai grabbed her favorite coffee mug off the wall before she followed him into the kitchen.

"Wow," she said as she looked around, "This is tiny. Cozy."

"This is efficient," he corrected. "Just what we need to get the job done."

"What can I do to help?" she asked.

"Set the table back there in the corner," he said, pointing out the break table for employees. "My tea's already there."

Tossing a couple of extra slices of ham in the pan and frying a couple more eggs over easy, he plated their first portions while the next batch of potatoes cooked on a lower flame.

"This is tasty," she said, building small stacks of ham, egg and potato on her fork.

"Here, try this." Luke reached over her plate and squirted a line of brown mustard on the edge. "Goes great with the ham."

She chatted through the meal, mostly about Rory and the huge frustrations with the inn's construction. Luke flipped the potatoes once, later pulling them off the fire and placing the pan on the table protected by a hot pad.

"You're going fishing?" she asked at length.

"Nah, I'm just going up to the cabin. It's too cold to fish right now."

"How come you're going if you're not going to fish?"

Luke shifted uncomfortably on the bench seat.

"It's OK, Luke, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she said quietly, presuming it had something to do with her.

His eyes turned a darker blue as he contemplated his reply. Lorelai drew in a breath sharply as he looked at her. Butterflies stormed her stomach in spite of the wintry weather.

"Sometimes I just need to get away for a while. It's quiet up there, and there's no Kirk or Taylor."

 _And no Lorelai,_ she added silently.

"Really? That's all?" She instantly felt that this question had gone too far.

He tipped his face down toward his food, his actions telling her that there was indeed more. He replied, "More potatoes? I'm sure you can finish these," as he piled the rest of the spuds on her plate.

She obediently polished off the last of the food on her plate before speaking.

"Take me along." She suggested it without flirting, manipulation or trickery of any sort.

Luke was floored. "You won't like it. It's cold, there's no TV, no stores, nothing to do," he argued.

 _He didn't say no._ Lorelai casually picked up their dishes, scraped the rests off his plate into the trash and put the dishes into the dishwater. Sliding on a rubber glove, she began scrubbing the plates, keeping her back deliberately turned away from Luke.

The flood of reasons Luke expected to hear from her lips as she rolled over his statement never came. No batting eyes, no flattery. _There was definitely something different about her._

"I don't even have a coffee maker," he said weakly.

Stripping the glove off her hand, she walked over and stood beside the still-seated Luke. She lifted one hand and tapped it on his head.

"Knock, knock," she said. "Can I come in? Let me go."

"I'm not in a very good mood," he finally argued. "I won't be there to entertain you. I kinda get inside my own head."

"Then I'll entertain you." A flash of panic crossed his face, and she reacted quickly. "But only when you want it. You can be as moody and grumpy as you want to be."

"Don't make me regret this," he warned.

Lorelai bounced up and down, clapping her hands. "I won't. Say the word and I'll be as silent as a mouse."

He arched an eyebrow. "Neither of us believes that statement."

She grinned, agreeing with him and impulsively reaching down to squeeze his shoulders in a sideways hug.

"What do I need to bring?"

Luke shot instructions rapidly at her, making sure she understood that warm clothing was critical. Winter outerwear, warm pajamas, boots, gloves, everything she might want during winter, since it was always colder at the cabin than in Stars Hollow. Her coffee maker and filters, and she was on her own to bring any junk food she might want.

Lorelai giggled. "I've seen you eat fried potatoes, Luke. What's your guilty pleasure when it comes to junk food?"

"I don't eat junk food." He looked away from her, signaling that he wasn't necessarily truthful with her. _Wow, this actions speak louder than words really works with him._

"Neither of us believes that statement," she parroted his earlier charge.

Luke sorted through the food in the fridge, making a mental list of the foods to take along. He needed a lot more food to feed a Gilmore.

Distracted, he answered, "Oh, um, I don't know. Maybe chocolate covered peanuts?"

"Perfect! Sweet, salty and fat, the ultimate junk food."

Lorelai made a mental note to stop by Doose's before going home to pack. Chocolate covered peanuts were definitely on her list.

"Luke, is it OK if I delay us by an extra twenty minutes? I need to stop by Sookie's for a minute."

"I guess. It's not like we're getting there in daylight anyway."

She went to her friend's house first, taking the time to apologize for her earlier behavior and reassuring Sookie that Manny was there to cover for her until she got the baby care under control. The friends made up with a few tears of recrimination and apologies all around.

Her Doose's trip was completed in record time. She exited with a giant paper bag filled with her treats, Luke's peanuts and a couple of other things she thought he might be willing to eat. A bottle of rum rounded out her purchases.

She was almost finished with her packing when Luke arrived in the truck. He pulled a few things out of her suitcase as inappropriate and helped her add the right outerwear. She ended up running back to the kitchen for coffee filters, but they still got on the road only about an hour later than Luke had hoped.

"You'd better make any calls you need to make now," he cautioned as Lorelai flipped open her phone to check for missed calls. "I don't know if there's cell coverage up there."

She pulled her knit hat up on one side so she could hear the phone ring as she called Rory.

"Hi kiddo," she said.

"Hey mom," replied Rory. "What's up?"

"I'm going to be incommunicado for a while," said Lorelai. "Luke's taking me up to his man-cave in the woods."

She grinned as Luke rolled his eyes. "It's not a cave, it's a cabin."

She dutifully corrected herself. "It's a cabin, not a cave, Luke says."

"Hi Rory," he added.

"He also says hi."

"Hi back. So, Mom, have you completed all three steps?"

"Just knocking," she giggled.

"No love? No naked?"

"Not yet." The giggle increased as she glanced nervously at her companion.

"I'm counting on you to close the deal this time, Mom. It might kill Luke if you back out at the last minute."

"Cross your fingers then and hope for the best. I'll be doing the same."

Rory grew serious for a moment. "Mom, it sounds like you're excited and happy. Is this what you want?"

"More than anything. I just hope it's not too late."

"It's Luke, Mom, he loves you. Wait and see."

"OK, I'll call you again when I get back, alright?"

"Bye Mom."

"Rory said Hi back," she said. As she closed the phone and looked out the window, Luke stole a look at her. He loved seeing her face after she talked to Rory. Even though they were living in separate cities, their freakish connection remained, and each time they talked, Lorelai glowed with happiness.

In an attempt to prevent having to tell Luke what they'd really discussed, Lorelai launched into a laundry list of Rory's recent activities. Eventually they lapsed into silence, listening to the sound of the road and watching the lights of the towns pass by.

Lorelai stared out at the blackness of the night. Luke was silent, looking straight ahead. The further they got away from civilization, the fewer cars and towns they saw. Most of the time, the only light was the dashboard of the truck.

"I had to apologize to Sookie tonight."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'd been pushing her too hard on the inn. I'd forgotten how much work a newborn is, and I lost my temper with her. She told me some things I needed to hear, but I didn't take it too well."

"But you made it good tonight, right?"

"I think so. It helped that I asked Manny to take over some of her work until she's more settled."

"Good that you thought of that. Not everyone is as strong as you are, Lorelai."

She lapsed into silence again, twisting her fingers together as they lay in her lap. It was much harder to find the words for the next thing she wanted to say.

"I'm also sorry I haven't been a better friend to you, Luke," she said, not daring to look at him. Her fingers twisted more urgently, but changed nothing. "I've listened, but I don't think I've often heard you."

 _There it is. That's what's been on her mind the last couple of days._ "Don't worry about it," he said gruffly.

"I'm not worried, I'm sorry. Two different things." Why do you keep changing the topic?" She hadn't noticed that this was one of his tactics to distract her.

"Don't know; don't want to talk about it."

She looked at him then and saw his jaw clenching and unclenching. _Time to be the friend he wants._ She stared out the window again, silent.

Two or three long silent minutes passed. Finally Luke reached over to her, squeezed one of her hands and dropped it back in her lap.

"Thanks," he said, never taking his eyes from the road.

* * *

The frosty leaves crunched as they carried their supplies from the truck to the cabin, moonlight guiding their path.

Luke flipped on the lights and immediately turned on the heating as Lorelai put away the critical groceries in the fridge. She was surprised by the two large bottles of whiskey Luke had brought along, but simply set them off to the side on the counter and adding her rum to the stash.

"Put on your warm clothes. We're going to sit outside," commanded Luke.

Once outside, he started a small wood fire in the fire bowl on the terrace overlooking the lake. He held open a sleeping bag.

"Step in." She put her feet into the bag and he zipped it up to her waist. "Sit," he commanded as he pointed to the long bench right behind her. She put her hands out to the heat of the fire while Luke disappeared inside.

A minute later he returned with two large glasses generously filled with whiskey and the bottle. Handing both glasses to her, he stirred the fire, tossed on some more small pieces, then slid into another sleeping bag and sat down next to her.

"Cheers," he said, tapping his heavy-bottomed glass against hers before drinking deeply.

"Cold," she said.

"Yep, damn cold. Freezes the brain cells. What the cold doesn't get, the whiskey does. Better than therapy. Drink up." He tossed the rest of his whiskey back.

Lorelai drained her glass and Luke was filling it up again before the first glass had time to warm her up.

He reached up and straightened her cap, which had gone askew. She smiled at him as the whiskey kicked in.

"Witches' tit cold," she giggled.

Luke pulled the cap down over her eyes.

After about 20 minutes, the fire had died down to a few embers, so he indicated that they should go inside.

Once inside they found that the heating had taken the chill off the room. They made coffee and tea and settled onto the sofa. He opened the bottle of rum and topped off their hot drinks, then pulled an old blanket off the back of the sofa and covered Lorelai's legs with it.

She turned on the sofa and scooted closer to him, throwing the end of the blanket over his knees.

"Regret your decision to come along?" he asked.

"Nope. Do you regret the invitation?"

"Invitation?" he scoffed. "You invited yourself."

"Another question you didn't answer."

"Not yet. Is that answer enough for you?" The skin around his eyes crinkled as he looked into his cup. The temperature of the tea and all the alcohol was warming his insides.

"Have a peanut," she said, waving the bowl under his nose.

"Double-dipped. My favorite." He took one, inspected it, then ate it while Lorelai pretended to faint at the sight. He chuckled. "Thanks."

Luke leaned back on the sofa, watching the clock tick away the minutes. At 35 minutes after midnight, he got up, took two shot glasses and a different bottle of whiskey, bringing them back to the coffee table.

Handing her a filled shot glass, he took the other one and went back to watching the clock.

As the 41st minute struck, he looked down at the ground and swallowed hard before speaking. "My dad died at exactly this time eighteen years ago. I come up here every year to toast him and remember his life." He blinked hard, still not looking at Lorelai.

Lorelai, blinking as hard as Luke, said in a shaky voice, "To William," and she moved close to Luke, tapped their glasses together and waited for him to look up.

He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, then met her eyes with his own moist ones. "To William," he agreed, and they drank.

She took the shot glass from his hand, put both glasses down, then wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him back against the sofa. They sat in silence.

She moved a bit closer and pulled on his legs until he stretched them out a little. She covered them with the blanket again, then wrapped her arms around his head, resting her own head on her hands. She felt Luke's muscles relax as he fell asleep, the effects of the whiskey, the confession and his long work day taking effect.

* * *

Lorelai woke alone on the sofa. She rolled over, facing the back of the sofa and pulled the covers over herself. Drifting in and out of rational thought, she let her brain process yesterday's events.

She'd made amends with Sookie, and by bringing her here and telling her about his father, Luke had let her in like never before. If she interpreted his 'Don't worry about it' correctly, he'd even accepted her apology.

Looking at the coffee table, she grinned at the empty bowl of chocolate covered peanuts. She stretched her arms and rolled over, very pleased with herself. The smell of coffee drove her to the kitchen. No Luke, but a full pot of his delicious brew.

Inhaling the vapors as she waited for it to reach drinking temperature, Lorelai walked around the cabin. It was like the diner kitchen, simple, but efficient.

The living area was warm and inviting, the kitchen seemed to be functional. Three compact bedrooms with decent beds, one full bath and a powder room completed the building. The problem was, Luke wasn't in any of those rooms. None of the beds had been slept in, either.

She stepped onto the porch and wished she'd brought the blanket with her. It was still nippy. She walked to the end of the terrace and saw him down at the lake, huddled on the small dock.

Pulling on most of those warm clothes he'd insisted she bring with her, she refilled her coffee, made him a tea and walked down to the dock.

"Hi handsome," she greeted him. "Morning," he grunted in return. Setting her coffee down, she took the cup out of his hands and replaced it with the tea. An odd smell reached her nostrils. She sniffed his cup. Whiskey.

"Awfully early for your first drink of the hard stuff, isn't it?" she asked.

"Most years I'm not having my first drink at this time, I'm still drinking. Saves all that worrying about when cocktail hour starts." He looked at the tea, then drank gratefully.

"That's one way to solve the problem," she acknowledged. She squatted down beside him and laid her hand on his arm. "What do you want to do today?"

"I usually just drink."

"OK, we can do that."

"You'll probably want to eat sometime."

"I'll probably want to eat all the time. Don't worry about me, I've got enough to eat. You don't need to take care of me." She rubbed his arm soothingly. _Let me take care of you._

"What if I want to feed you?"

"Then I'll take away your whiskey. You're on vacation, you don't need to be feeding others."

Luke abandoned that useless line of conversation. He wanted to take care of her, but she always spooked when he did anything more than cooking. Now he wasn't even allowed to do that. He reached under his folding chair, took the bottle and had another swig of whiskey.

 _I'm here to help him, not fight him._ She took the bottle out of his hands and took a swig herself. Tough as she was, it was still a harsh way to greet the morning.

"Tell me about your parents," she said as she moved to the other folding chair which he had obviously put out for her. Taking care of her again. Lorelai worried that she would never be able to match Luke's ability to care for her, but she decided that now was the best time to start practicing. She moved the whiskey to the other side of her chair, out of Luke's reach. As she set the bottle down, she noted it was much emptier than last night when she fell asleep.

"It was their cabin. Mom painted and made the curtains. She also designed the kitchen. Dad did most of the interior work after the construction crew did the framing."

"That's where you got your skills, then?"

"Most of them, yeah. I picked up a little here and there working for Tom some summers."

She giggled. "I was talking about the ability to sew curtains."

He sniffed and smiled. "No skills there. I can cook and I can build, but I have to outsource my curtains. Know anyone who can sew?"

"I might be able to find someone," she teased, already planning which of the curtains in Luke's apartment she wanted to make first. "You like flowers, right?"

"Manly curtains only," he demanded.

"Got it. Plaid flannel all the way."

He talked more, about his childhood, Liz and his mother. How he learned to cook, and still had all of her cookbooks and recipe files, which he had carefully added his recipes to over the years.

"Why did you choose cooking over construction for a job?"

Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was seeing Lorelai in this place that he loved so much. Maybe it was his mother's legacy that drove his words. Regardless, the truth came easy.

He shrugged. "I like taking care of people. Food is faster than a house."

"God, I envy you, knowing what you want. I just fell into the inn business because it was the first job that came along." She stretched her arm toward him, delicately entwining her fingers with him, making barely enough contact so he knew he wasn't alone.

"But you love it, right? I can see that you do." He glanced around for the whiskey, but returned to his tea when he couldn't find it.

She had no answer for that. She loved managing the Independence Inn, and was elated thinking about her own inn, but why she loved it? She had no clue.

Before she could formulate a clever quip, her stomach spoke up. Loud and long.

Luke laughed and his deep, resonant voice made her toes tingle. "Come on. You may not want me to fix your breakfast, but your stomach sure does."

He stood up, steadier than she expected, given the amount of alcohol he'd consumed.

"But I want to take care of you," she pouted.

"You will. Let me do what 'I love,' as you put it," he said, awkwardly using air quotes. He held out his hand to help her up.

"That's BS, you know, but I'm going to gloss over it, because that last bit was so dirty!" She took his hand and made him work to pull her up out of the low chair. On the way back to the cabin, she didn't give him his hand back, instead taking his whole arm.

"I'm never using air quotes again. That was dorky," he said as they made their way back to the cabin.

* * *

They divided the day between cooking, reading and relaxing. Lorelai was as flirty as ever, but she took it in a different direction than her diner flirts.

She got a little too close as she stood behind him, stealing small pieces of cheese as he prepared a salad, dancing away and laughing when he warned her that he might accidentally cut her fingers off.

When he settled onto the sofa for an afternoon nap, she nudged her way into a comfortable position that just happened to have lots of contact with him, then played at stealing his blanket. She refilled the peanut bowl when it got empty, even though she rarely saw him actually eating them.

"Luke," she said as his body seemed to finally give into his sleepiness, "I'm having a really good time. How about you?"

"I'm wondering what the penalty is for justified homicide, 'cause that's what I'm about to commit," he threatened.

"OK, OK, go to sleep. You've earned the rest." She pretended to read the book she'd found at the back of the cabin's bookcase, waiting until his breathing evened out and she heard a gentle snore before adding, "Thanks for taking care of me," she whispered before snuggling down herself.

She completely missed the small twitch of his mouth that indicated he heard her.

* * *

"Get up, sleepyhead. We're going for a walk." Luke was wide-awake and impatient.

"No, wanna sleep. Hate walking."

"You do not hate walking. You walk all over Stars Hollow. You walk all over the mall. Get up."

"You're taking me to a mall for a walk?" she asked hopefully.

"No mall around here," he said. "There's something better." He pulled her into a sitting position. "You have five minutes to get ready, and go to the bathroom first or you'll have to go in the woods."

They were deep in the woods a few minutes later, with Lorelai grumbling the whole time.

Luke was nervous. It wasn't good that she was so grumpy. He'd noticed every gesture Lorelai had made this weekend and he was determined to respond appropriately. For the first time in years, he wasn't spending his father's memorial day with a nothing more than a bottle of whiskey; he was with someone who was clearly there for him.

"Ouch! Dammit!" growled Lorelai as her foot hit a tree root.

Time to pull out the big guns, Luke realized.

"Here. I think you need this about now," said Luke as he opened a thermos of coffee.

If he didn't know she was crazy, he'd be concerned that Lorelai was schizophrenic with the lightning-fast mood change that came over her once she'd tasted the coffee.

"Angel!" she exclaimed, spontaneously giving his cheek a coffee-coated kiss.

"Junkie," he replied affectionately, adding a disapproving look for balance.

"Luke," said Lorelai as they continued along the path. "Have you been coming here every year since your father's death?"

Luke suddenly found the bare trees fascinating while he figured out the best answer. "No, not really."

Clutching her thermos and the cup of coffee, Lorelai rolled her eyes. He was hedging. "When did you start coming here?" was her innocent-sounding follow-up.

"I started coming a number of years ago."

"How big a number?"

"Let me think for a second," he bluffed. Just a few more steps and he could change the subject.

He grabbed her elbow, shaking the cup. "Hey!" she barked. "Watch the coffee!"

"Right here, come see this." He was practically pulling her along the path, but as soon as they turned the corner, Lorelai stopped dead. There, in the middle of the forest, was a twenty-foot waterfall, half-frozen by the cold temperatures. Ice formed from splashing water created icicles at a large radius from the still-flowing water at the center.

"It's an ice palace," she breathed. "So beautiful!"

"I thought you'd like it," he said modestly.

She set the thermos down, carefully placing the empty cup on top as the cap. Luke guided her carefully across the slippery ground, pointing out various details. Lorelai laughed as she identified figures in the ice formations.

"Look! There's Taylor and Kirk!"

"Aw, a kitty. Or is it Steven Tyler?"

"Gilbert! C'mon, Luke, don't you remember your baby?"

"I don't have a goat baby." Luke was openly laughing, enjoying her enthusiasm.

"Thanks for bringing me here, Luke. It's amazing." Lorelai rubbed her gloved hand up and down Luke's arm as she held his hand with the other.

He turned her toward him and pulled her closer than they already were. "It is amazing."

Lorelai grinned as their coats created a thick wall between them. "Are you just trying to distract me from my question again? Man, you are a piece of work."

"You ask too many questions."

"Inquiring minds want to know," she replied as he lowered his lips to hers, brushing them softly. Placing one hand on either side of her head, he tugged her wool cap down a little further to cover her ears, then slid his hands down her back, pulling her lower half closer.

"Suave move, mister. I hardly noticed what you were doing."

"My distraction tactic seems to be particularly effective with you."

She pressed her lips against his, enjoying his soft lips, matching his passion as he deepened the kiss. Her heart was racing and those butterflies which had taken up residence in her stomach last night suddenly took flight again.

"It's cold," he said. "Do you want to go back to the cabin?"

"Mm-hm," she agreed. "Let me say goodbye to everyone first."

"Bye, Ice Taylor. Bye, Ice Kirk."

"You're nuts."

"You're surprised by this how? Bye, Ice Kitty. Bye, Ice Gilbert. I'd take you home with me, but you would just melt and then the floor in Luke's cabin would be ruined and he wouldn't kiss me anymore and I'd have to find someone else to kiss me, but no one kisses as good as Luke, so I'd have to replace the floor in his cabin, only I don't know how to do that, so he'd never forgive me, and …"

"I forgive you. Leave Ice Gilbert behind," Luke growled even as his heart soared hearing her affectionate teasing. "He's happier here among friends."

"OK, let's go. Oh! Wait! I forgot the thermos." Lorelai turned quickly, then stepped gingerly over the icy patches on the ground until she reached the thermos. She raised her hand in victory as she claimed her prize, then jumped back toward Luke. On the second hop, she slipped and fell hard, sliding down a small muddy slope into the water at the base of the waterfall.

"Oh, holy shit!" she cried. "Luke!"

He was already halfway there, quickly covering the rest of the distance and grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her upright. She flung her arms around his neck, unfortunately forgetting she still carried the thermos and whacked him in the head, causing him to cry out in pain.

He pulled her bodily out of the water, carrying her to drier ground and checked for injuries. Lorelai was soaked in icy water from her thighs to her feet.

"Crap," he said, "We have to get you dry as soon as possible. It's freezing out here." He fruitlessly squeezed some of the water out of her pants and the bottom of her coat.

"C'mon, move, Lorelai! There's no way to get you back fast unless you run."

She was shivering already. "Luke, it's cold."

"I know, Lorelai, I've got you. Let's go. How fast can you run?"

She started moving, but the wet clothes were rapidly chilling her body.

They moved down the path as fast as she could go, Luke practically carrying her. About a third of the way back, Lorelai stopped. "I can't feel my feet," she said through chattering teeth.

"Wait. I think this will help." He stopped and pulled off his boots, then removed one sock at a time, sliding his bare foot back into the boot. Pulling her shoes and socks off as fast as he could, he put his huge socks on her feet, then back into her shoes.

"Geez, your feet really are like ice. Here, put my coat on, too." He pulled her coat off and wrapped his army winter jacket almost twice around her body.

"Th-th-thanks, that helps." Her whole body was shaking from the chill by this time.

They moved on, trying to beat the chills setting in. Luke was practically pushing her sometimes, other times almost carrying her. They reached the cabin much sooner than he'd expected.

Hustling her into the bathroom, he ran room temperature water in the tub and ordered her into it.

"Clothes off, no time for modesty, Lorelai." Her snug pants became even snugger wet, so he peeled them off her body. Thankfully her upper body hadn't gotten wet, so she left her sweater on as the water barely covered her legs.

Luke splashed the water on her feet and calves, rubbing them to make sure there was no frostbite or frostnip. He gradually increased the temperature of the water to warm and kept massaging her feet.

"It burns, Luke." She grimaced in pain.

"That's good. It means you've got circulation going. Is it numb anywhere?"

"No, but my feet hurt."

"OK, I'll keep massaging them. You can relax now, you're safe."

He continued for another ten minutes or so, until Lorelai felt good enough to get out of the tub. Bringing Lorelai her duffle, he lay the thickest towels he had on the sink for her, then helped her out of the tub.

"You're good now? Get dressed and sit on the sofa, I'll make you more coffee."

Safely ensconced in the warmest blankets in the cabin and supported by a down pillow, Lorelai delighted in Luke's TLC. He pulled a pair of woolen hiking socks onto her feet over her own fuzzy pink socks, and gave her a warm shawl his mother left at the cabin for the winter months.

Once he'd cleaned up the bathroom and the kitchen, Luke sat down on the sofa near Lorelai, taking her feet into his hands, massaging them gently to make sure everything was coming back to normal.

"You're good?" he asked.

"No, I'm sorry."

"What the hell for?"

"You came here to escape the crazy people demanding things from you all day long, but here I am, incapable of walking on flat ground without injuring myself and causing you a ton of extra work. I just make things worse for you."

"That's simply not true, Lorelai."

"Answer my question and I'll prove you wrong. When did you start coming here on this day in November?"

Luke looked uncomfortable, but before he could say anything, Lorelai cut him short. "No deflections, Luke, tell me the truth."

He sat there, looking down at the ground.

She answered it for him. "It wasn't too long after you met me, wasn't it? Maybe a year or so?"

He finally looked at her.

"You don't need to say anything, I know the answer. I'm a man-eater." She pulled her legs up to her chest and dejectedly rested her chin on her hands.

"You're a what?"

"A man-eater. It's all over town, how I manipulate people and how I treated you the worst of all."

"Bullshit."

"No, no, they're right. People told me all the time you had a thing for me, but I denied it. Half a dozen times we almost kissed, but I practically put skid marks on you as I ran away."

"Again, bullshit."

"My mother met you for two minutes and told me you had a thing for me."

"Since when do you listen to your mother?"

"I take advantage of you for house repairs, then I flaunt my boyfriends in front of you."

"Who is telling you these things?"

His deflection on the taking advantage and flaunting question was not lost on Lorelai.

"Apparently there are two underground movements – the bigger one is Lorelai is a man-eater, and the other one claims I must be a flesh-eating zombie."

"Zombie? You know that everyone in this town is cracked. Why do you listen to these idiots?"

"Because before I came along, you only hated Taylor. Now you hate everyone because you're frustrated over me. That's why you come here every November, so you can recover from Lorelai the man-eater. Stars Hollow loves you and they wish I would stop treating you like crap."

"And you bought all of this bullshit? Lorelai, you're smarter than that. Come here, we're going to talk this through, and then I want a list of names so I can kick their asses."

He peeled the blankets off her, layer by layer until he reached her legs. "Stand up," he commanded, turning her so her feet were flat on the floor. "Now shake off all that crap you've been told."

Mirroring Luke's actions, she shook her arms, then her legs, and finally her whole body. "That's a mental trick I learned from sports. Shake off everything that bugs you, so your mind is free to concentrate on the game."

"Now, where were we before you fell in the water?" He stepped forward, lay his arms over her shoulders and began kissing her.

Deeply. Passionately. Tenderly.

Over and over again.

Lorelai's near-frostbite was forgotten as Luke's kisses heated her to her core. _Luke can kiss!_ She pressed her hands against his chest, clutching his shirt as he held her so closely she could feel his heartbeat. She put her full concentration into the game.

* * *

Eventually Luke broke the kiss, falling back onto the sofa.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," he said, enveloping her in his arms as she lay on top of him.

"How long?" she smirked, brushing her thumb against the grain of his stubble.

"At least three days." He blushed as he hid the truth a little, embarrassed to tell her how many years he'd dreamed of this moment.

"Sorry about that guy. I'm really sorry. I have to apologize for that at least."

"Why would you do that in front of me? In my diner?"

"What can I say? He reminded me of a very attractive guy who I thought wasn't interested in me."

"Huh? Who?"

"Hah! I knew they were wrong! Everyone told me he looked just like you."

"That guy doesn't look anything like me."

"Later I noticed a slight resemblance, but he was just an inferior copy of you. I'm glad he dumped me."

"The guy dumped you? Idiot."

"He did me a big favor. He told me the whole man-eater story."

DGAS

"I don't give a shit about that guy."

"You DGAS him?" she giggled.

"What's DGAS?"

"Just what you said: Don't Give A Shit. DGAS."

Luke grunted at her joke. Turning serious for a moment, he asked, "Lorelai, I have to know, why did you want to come here this weekend?"

"Because I knew, I finally understood, that there's only one set of lips I want to be kissing, one pair of arms to hold me, one guy I trust to tell me bullshit when I really need to hear it. All the other guys are DGAS."

More kissing …

"Wow. We are really good at that."

Luke brushed a lock of hair back in place, still thrilled that they were here like this, but one niggling doubt remained.

"This is what you want? I mean, us, together?"

"It's what I've always wanted. I just didn't recognize that you were the one."

"Yeah?" was all Luke could say as his doubt faded. His brilliant smile took Lorelai's breath away.

"Yeah, I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes."

She snuggled into the crook of his arm.

"What about you?" she asked.

"I've known a little longer. You're it for me."

Someone's going to get an ass-kicking

"C'mon, let's go for a walk," suggested Luke. "I promise this time, no watery pool of death for you."

As they walked, Luke pondered the things their so-called friends in Stars Hollow had told Lorelai.

"Hey, Lorelai, you know all that other stuff people told you?"

"Yeah," she said as she pulled his arm closer to her. She was not looking forward to this discussion. She looked like such an idiot. She felt like such an idiot.

"We don't need to discuss it ever. This is all that matters. Hell, I don't even care if you're a real zombie, I still want you."

Lorelai put on her best zombie expression and began stalking Luke. "Unh! Uh! Zombie needs human flesh!"

Luke laughed heartily as she grabbed his arm, trying to bite it through his heavy military jacket, but stepped quickly out of the way when she tried for actual skin. After a struggle with the zombie, he finally succeeded in kissing her by holding her mouth shut so she wouldn't bite.

"So, my beautiful undead creature," he teased, "is there anyone's ass you need me to kick over that stupid stuff they told you?"

"Well, Sookie and I are good, and Rory was a big help... So, no." She gave him a simpering smile. "Can I reserve the hit for some other time?"

Luke shook his head in disbelief. "Rory knew about the man-eater thing?"

"Sure, she heard it from Jess."

"Now his ass I'll gladly kick! I'll do that one just for fun. Not Rory, though."

"No, not Rory." She smirked at him, adding "Cause she'd kick your ass."

"Oh, I know that. She turns on that Rory face and I'm cowering in a corner," Luke chuckled.

"She does have that effect on people," agreed Lorelai.

The wuss

"You know, I'm really ticked off that all of Stars Hollow thinks I'm a wuss who can't close the deal. It's like they think I don't have free will and can decide things for myself."

"You were a wuss. You didn't close the deal until today."

"No I wasn't. I was just scared of what Rory would do to me if I hurt you."

"So you're a smart wuss. My favorite kind. You're also a bit of a scaredy-cat."

The sweet stuff

"I wanna see you actually eat those peanuts. Luke Danes eating junk food! That's one for the Stars Hollow News."

"Maybe I put them back into the bag when you're not looking," he smirked.

Lorelai got up off Luke's lap, jauntily walked to the trash can and pulled out an empty bag. He blushed as she waved it under his nose.

"Luke Danes eats junk food, here's the proof. Now I own your ass!" she chortled as she returned to his lap.

"You always did, Lorelai, you always did." Luke pulled her down to prove it.

A long time later, but not long enough to do what you thought they were doing …

"Hey, I thought you came here to remember your dad."

"We did remember him. Just after midnight. He asked me to have a drink in his honor after he was gone, on the first anniversary of his death. Even left me a special bottle of whiskey. He didn't say keep coming back for all eternity."

"Don't you usually spend the weekend revisiting old memories, remembering the good times? Looking at old photos?"

Luke snorted. "What am I, a girl? No, I pretty much drink the weekend away. He would have called me a damn fool for doing even that."

"So you drank because you were pining for me?"

His next snort was louder, causing Lorelai to wonder if that wasn't his way of hiding embarrassment when she got too close to the truth. "I wasn't pining. I drank because I knew I was a wuss who didn't close the deal."

She frowned. "Well, I wasn't exactly helpful, was I? I could have listened to Rory, I could have paid attention to what you were really telling me. I mean, who could have missed a hint as big as a chuppah? Only Lorelai Gilmore, queen of Denial."

"Let's say that there might be a smidgen of truth to the man-eater thing." Lorelai gasped in astonishment. "Just a smidge," he added with a wry smile.

"It took both of us, but we closed the deal now."

Lorelai was focused on Luke's fingers, playing with them. "At least we closed the love portion of the deal. You have amazingly beautiful hands, Luke."

He wondered if Lorelai noticed what she'd said, but decided to let it go. "Yeah, we did," he said with a big grin.

Running her finger along the side of his neck, stopping only when it ran into a button, she grinned back at him mischievously. "When are we gonna close the naked portion of the deal, Luke?"

"You don't want to do the whole date thing first?" he asked, a little surprised. _Lorelai loves that whole romance crap._

"We had dinner last night. You cooked for me. Sounds like a date," she declared, letting her kisses follow the trail her finger had taken.

"I cook for you every day."

"Most days I pay. That makes you a food prostitute," she poked him in the chest for emphasis.

"That makes me a cook, not a prostitute."

"Eh, potato, po-tah-to …" She suddenly sat upright. "Hey, I'm hungry."

"You just want me for my burgers," he retorted.

"Dirty!" She giggled again as she pulled up into the kitchen. "Feed me, Seymour."

Dinner was followed by a re-creation of first half of the scene from Ghost, except they weren't at a pottery wheel, they were at a sink full of sudsy water and dirty dishes. And Luke wasn't a ghost. Lorelai had plenty of hard evidence for that.

"So, you're sure you don't want to take this slowly?" he asked as he nuzzled her neck.

"You cooked for me again. Pretty soon I'm going to feel an obligation to put out."

He smirked as he pulled her to him, grinding his lower half against hers. "You never paid me for that Santa burger, you know."

Lorelai bounced up and down in happiness, causing Luke to yip in pain as she landed in the wrong place. "Sorry, hon."

She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the chin. "Hurry up and remember another time you cooked for me, Luke. The fourth date is the decisive one. It's either sex or break up, you know. I'd hate to have gone through all this only to have to break up with you because of the fourth date."

Highly motivated, Luke racked his brain, but came up with nothing that he could rationalize as a dinner date.

Looking around the room in desperation, his eyes landed on the fruit bowl. "Here, have a banana!" His eyes pleaded with her to accept.

"That's a very dirty offer! Open it," she demanded.

Snapping the stem off, he peeled the banana slowly, their eyes locked. She put her hand on Luke's wrist, slowly gliding it up to cover his fingers as they clasped the banana. Taking a long, sexy bite, she pulled the rest of the banana out of Luke's hand and tossed it over her shoulder.

"Take me now, Luke Danes, prove to me you're not a wuss," she said with her mouth full.

So he did.

Deeply. Passionately. Tenderly.

Over and over again.

Fin

* * *

 **A/N:** Hope you enjoyed the fluff. Did the transition between sections at the end work? I didn't want to invent a big backstory, so I chained the little drabbles together.


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